Over the past decade, microbiome research has provided key insights into the relationship between our gut and our health. There are trillions of organisms in our gut, comprising the microbiome that complements our human biology, distinct from our genome. These gut microbes affect us in many ways, from affecting our mental health to our ability to fight cancer.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Federico Rey and his research group are trying to understand how our diet might help or harm the important microbial communities in our gut. “If we can understand how microbes interact with diet, we can personalize nutrition to match diet with the composition of the gut microbiome and promote health,” Rey says.
Continue reading “Go with Your Gut: Understanding How the Microbiome and Diet Influence Health”
Think about the last time you gave a presentation. The feeling of having “butterflies in your stomach”. Or when you meet someone for the first time, that “gut feeling” of whether you two will get along. In our day-to-day lives, we often associate what happens in the gut with what goes on in our brain. In fact, scientific evidence suggests that our gut and our brain frequently communicate—through gut microbes. Apparently, the existence of trillions of bacteria and eukaryotes in our gut is not only crucial for our physical health, they may also be important for our mental health.